Looking at a Cannon 600d?

[garrettlonewolfe]

Hello all, wanted to ask some advice-

Currently shooting with a Cannon SX500 Powershot (the lack of viewfinder is really annoying). The 'better half' is willing to feed my addiction and upgrade the camera. Cost is somewhat of an issue and I have looked into the Cannon 600d with both the 18-55mm and 55-200mm kit lenses. Would others suggest this, or should I look at either going with a better body (700d?) and 18-55mm or possibly sticking with the 600d and one kit lens and adding stand-alone zoom?

Main focus of my photography is nature and landscapes with an idea in tinkering with macro using close-up filters.

Would really appreciate your thoughts.

Ray

[yummymummy]

Hi Ray, as cameras go, the 600D is a nice little camera. A good friend of mine shoots with one for landscapes and storm chasing, and the images that he produces are great.. The kit lenses that come with them are ok, they'll do the job for you, but they're not the best most sharp lenses you can get, obviously, that's why they put them in the kit. Instead of buying the kit, why don't you look at getting the body, and maybe for your landscapes, something like the sigma 10-20 ultra wide.. It's a great lens, not too expensive, and produces results. Cost is ALWAYS going to be an issue lol.. just so you know.. you'll soon get the disease known as " lens lust" .. there is no known cure.. just go with it hehe.. I hope that was helpful!

[bricat]

You need a budget. Then you can decide on which lens to buy. The body is the first essential part then you know how much is left for a lens/lenses. There is nothing wrong with the twin lens kit and it does give you a wide coverage of zoom. As a beginner the twin lens kit is a cheap and great option to get you started. Other lens options could/will cost you more than you pay for the body. Good luck with your decision. cheers Brian

[garrettlonewolfe]

Thank you both for your comments. It is good to hear that the 600d is a good starting point. Yummy I do agree with your comments about the wide angle lens.

[unistudent1962]

Hi Ray,

The 600D and kit lenses will allow you to capture the types of images you are interested in. At 18mm you have a WIDE ANGLE lens, shorter focal lengths than this begin to move into the ULTRA WIDE ANGLE range. Landscapes can be captured at any focal length, depending on how you want to capture the image. Going out to 250mm will give the reach necessary to begin to capture some wildlife as well.

Obviously the image quality isn't going to be quite as good as if you'd spent $2-3K on lenses, but unless you are "pixel-peeping" or printing very large prints very few people will be able to pick the difference.

The only thing I'm not sure about is the use of "close-up filters" for macro. Most people will experiment with (relatively) inexpensive extension tubes and if they decide that macro really interests them upgrade to a dedicated Macro lens.

[Seachange]

I am new to photography and am looking through the forums for help in buying a good DSLR camera and agree with "Yummy" in regards to the kit lenses if they are not as good a quality why buy them because "they are good to start with" would it not be more cost effective to not buy the kit lenses and put a little more, (or a lot more!!) money towards buying the better lens straight away?

[Tannin]

^ Only if you know which better lens will suit you best, and you can't, not without some experience to base your decision on. Best to start with a cheap lens (and they don't come any cheaper than the kit lenses!) and regard it as a $100 investment in self-education which might save you a thousand later on when you realise that your expensive starter lens is too long for you, or too short, or too heavy, or too slow.

Unless you are quite confident in your choice, start with a kit lens and plan on upgrading it a couple of years when you know exactly what you want.

I am less happy recommending the 55-250. OK, it's better than you would expect given the price, but cheap long(ish) lenses never really satisfy. You might do better to soldier along with just the 18-55 to start with, and then look at a better quality 70-300 (or similar) in, say, a year's time.

If you really want to start with something better as your everyday walk-around lens, an excellent general-purpose choice is the Canon 15-85 IS. It's not cheap, but reasonable price-wise, and it has excellent optics, a very useful range of focal lengths, latest-generation IS, the front element does not rotate when you focus (which is a must-have feature if you want to use filters, which you will if you do many landscapes), and it has good, robust construction to stand up to hard use.

But the 18-55 kit lens costs practically nothing, and still takes great pictures. If it was up to me, I'd say spend the extra to get a proper two-wheel body like a 60D (the controls on the one-wheel x00D bodies are much inferior and harder to use: any of the two-digit models - 50D, 60D, 70D, and so on - makes a better choice), and pay for it by economising on the lens. Later on, you will upgrade to an 15-85 or a Sigma 17-70, or a 17-55/2.8 or one of the several excellent third-party 18(ish) to 50(ish) fast zooms.

[Nick Cliff]

Garrett have you considered any of the new mirrorless system cameras ,I found the imaging resource sight helpfull, enjoy the search anyways ,regards Nick.

[garrettlonewolfe]

Thanks Tannin, good point on the telephoto and the spinning front ring. I will definitely be using a CPL and a GND filter so spin is an issue.

[REDbiv]

The other thing to consider is I think from the 650D-700D has a flip out screen which I believe the 600D doesn't. While I haven't used a camera with flip out screen, I could see it being quite a useful upgrade for what you've said you want to use a camera for.

My personal experience with a 450D. I bought it with the twin kit lenses and that did me for 18-24 months. As mentioned already they're the lenses you start with and by keeping an eye on what focal lengths used (or by wishing you had wider or longer lenses), you will know an approximate length lens to upgrade to and as Tannin opened with, "A $100 investment in self education"

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[Wynny]

I have had a 600D for over 2 years now and am still enjoying using it and getting good results. I purchased it due to it being great value (and even better value now) to ease myself back into photography. I was recently considering upgrading to a 70D but decided to spend the money on a new lens instead. I may upgrade sometime later in the year but am still enjoying using the 600D. It does have the flip out screen. The only thing that I find frustrating with it at times is focussing especially when the light starts to drop and I must admit it is a bit plasticy.

On lenses I bought mine with the kit lenses. Both felt cheap but like Tannin I was impressed with the 18-55 but less so with the 55-250. At the risk of echoing Tannin I have upgraded to the Canon 15-85 as my walk around lens, the Canon 10-22 as a UWA and a 70-200 f4L for the longer stuff. You do notice a difference moving away from the kit lenses but they were useful while I was developing my photography. If you have a flick through photography magazines you may be surprised about how often cameras like the 600D with kit lenses get printed in the monthly competitions.

I am now content with the lenses I have and will bide my time waiting to see if the 70D comes down in price or if the new 7D tempts me when (if) it is announced but in the meantime I have no problems continuing with my 600D.

[evat601]

I have had the 600D for 18 months now, and have to say it works for me. It is light enough (in DSLR terms) that it's not painful to hold for a long day walking about.

The twin lens kit was a real plus for me starting out for a number of reasons. They take reasonable enough images in terms of IQ (in my mind anyway) and any of my images to date have not been hindered by the lens itself, just my lack of ability . They are really light (read plasticy) so again were fine to carry around. Getting to learn changing lens while out and about was also less stressful because dropping the lens wasn't the end of the world.

My old man has a 7D, which I have only used a couple of times, but found it really heavy and harder to hold (a bigger body).

Since then I realised that I really don't use my 55 - 250mm at all, I pilfered a 17 - 85mm from my dad and that stays on my camera almost all the time. I also bought a 50mm 1.4, 12 months down the track because I knew I wanted to experiment with a fast prime.

I would recommend both the 600d and a twin lens kit for a first purchase....

[Roosta]

Don't forget you can hire a lens/es and see if it/they suit your needs.

I Agree with Tony (Tannin)